I would love input from the forum on this case which police have re-examined after 25 years, and are making a real push to involve the public, even re-opening her grave to take DNA – there is even a 3D crime scene recreation that we can explore (links below). It is a mystery of real intrigue, reminding me of both the Somerton Man and Danny Casolaro.
Oslo Plaza Hotel, 3rd June 1995:
3 days prior, Jennifer Fairgate books into the hotel for herself and her apparent husband Lois (despite this, most witnesses agree that she was alone). On the day in question, security visit the room as the credit limit for the room has been exceeded – shortly after knocking on the door they hear a gunshot, and when the room is eventually opened up they find Jennifer dead on the bed, gunshot wound to the head, gun in hand. Initially deemed a suicide, there are some oddities that require further analysis:
1) It is quickly apparent that she is not Jennifer Fairgate. Aside from mis-signing the register as ‘Fergate’, no ID is discovered at all. Her home address in Belgium was fake, and no Jennifer Fairgate appears on any Oslo airport records around the date.
2) Many labels have been cut out of her clothes, which has been seen in a few crimes before, usually where the victim’s ID is in question.
3) She made 2 phone calls to Belgium but both calls failed as the numbers didn’t exist.
4) She had no toiletries with her at all except for one bottle of man’s cologne.
5) The gun found in her hand had the serial number etched away by acid and was untraceable.
6) The door was operated via a keycard. Records show that she spent most of the 24hrs leading up to her death outside of the hotel room but there is no clue as to what she did in that time. The door was locked at the time security entered to find the body.
There are many problems with the way the police handled the crime, no doubt because a body in a locked room with the murder weapon = suicide… right? This link will allow you to watch a 30m report on the case as well as examine some of the more mysterious evidence and explore the 3D crime scene:
https://www.vg.no/spesial/2017/plaza-english/#sporene
Here are some of the more obvious observations I have made to get the ball rolling:
A) There is suspicion that she was a government agent of some sort due to the missing clothes labels, fake details and lack of ID. The apparent misdialled international phone calls could also be explained by Belgian telecoms being instructed by an intelligence agency to inform foreign police that the numbers weren’t listed. However, I do not like the agent angle for a couple of reasons even though it remains the most viable option:
– Agents are very well trained in creating a character, she would have used a real home address and carried ID to back up her story. In fact, if she did carry ID and had labels in her clothes I imagine the rest of the anomalies in this case would have gone unnoticed.
– If she cut out the labels to hide where they were purchased, why did she not do this to all of her clothes?
The reality is that none of the suggestions as to her background hold up well. Depression or a drug deal gone wrong also do not adequately explain shoddy false ID and missing labels.
B) Investigators at the time seem to have been blinded to the possibility of murder, as there are definite failings such as not forensically testing the bed, bathroom, towels or dressing gown. There is also a literal smoking gun – neither her fingerprints nor blood spatter was found on the gun, and no gunpowder residue was found on her hand. The crime scene photo of her holding the gun shows she is not wearing gloves, so I find it impossible that she could have loaded and shot the gun without leaving a print or receiving gunpowder particles. Likewise the blood spatter – it is shown to have reached the wall and ceiling, yet completely missed her gun hand.
There was also a second bullet hole in a pillow which police have rather weakly dismissed as a ‘test shot’ that she made. This would double the chance of gunpowder residue on her hand if she had been the shooter.
C) I have a rough timeline that fits all the known facts and plausibly allows for a murder to have occurred:
a. Booking and housekeeping records point to Jennifer expecting to be sharing the room, but evidence points to only one occupant over the 3 days.
b. She needs to call ‘Lois’ to say where she is, but the numbers she tries are incorrect and she needs to leave the hotel to rectify the situation somehow (difficult to say why at this stage). Her difficulties in arranging the meeting explain why she was out of the room for 24hrs.
c. The night before the murder, she orders room service and only manages to eat a small amount before she is disturbed.
d. Someone knocks at her door, perhaps holding the newspaper (labelled for a different room) as a pretence to get her to open up.
e. She is shot that evening. The coroner listed death as the morning of the discovery, but the food in her stomach suggested she died shortly after eating.
f. The killer strips the room of everything that can identify him and her, and packs it all in a case which he takes with him. This case contains all of her ID, money and toiletries (the crime scene artist says she was wearing makeup – but none was found in the room).
g. As the killer is finally removing labels from her clothes, there is a knock at the door by the first security guard. Whether accidental or deliberate, the second shot goes off at this point, sending the guard running back to his boss to get help.
h. The killer leaves the room with most of the evidence in the missing bag. In his rush he had to leave the remaining labels and forgot about the cologne. It is vital to remember that the keycard records only show when someone has used the card to enter the room, so it is entirely possible for her to have let someone in and then leave again the next morning without any record of this activity showing up. The security guard who opened the door insists the double bolt was engaged, but it is easy to see how this could be mis-remembered when you’re about to enter a room where a gun has just been fired.
Please do read the article I linked to , it is a very well put together piece of investigative journalism. Hopefully this renewed effort will lead to some justice for Jennifer, whoever she is.
Check out my website: www.darkideas.net
Some further observations after re-examining the article in detail:
– There are 3 empty bottles on the table, which it seems had come from the mini bar. Of these, one is a normal Coca Cola and the other a Diet Coke. I can only speak anecdotally here, but I have usually found that many young women will refuse a full-sugar coke due to the calories, and as a diet coke drinker myself I also find the normal version too sweet (ie I would not drink the normal version at all). This suggests to me that there were two people drinking in the room, but it would be nice to know what the full contents of the minibar were.
– The pillow with the ‘test’ bullet hole is a problem. The police report says she definitely fired that shot first as the pillow was found under her. The crime scene photo of the bed shows a large amount of blood in the area where her head and shoulders were resting, but there is no blood at all on the pillow so how can it have been under her?
This also causes problems with regards to her hand position on the gun and the lack of gunpowder residue. We are told that the residue wasn’t present because she held the gun ‘backwards’, but that would mean she also held the gun in that way for the test shot, which seems ridiculous. The only way I can see that happening is if she somehow misses the first shot, but the security guard only heard one shot, so that scenario also does not fit.
– The Norwegian agent interviewed by the reporters suggests there are ways to get round hotel keycard locks so my theory on the killer’s timeline still holds water even if the security guard was correct about the locked door when he arrived.
– the mysterious Mr ‘F’ that the reporters track down needs to be interviewed by police. I am sure they passed on their information to the relevant people, so hopefully that will happen.
Check out my website: www.darkideas.net
I thought this forum was devoted to Zodiac! This isn’t anykillersite.com. Pursuing every unknown murderer will defuse our efforts.
I thought this forum was devoted to Zodiac! This isn’t anykillersite.com. Pursuing every unknown murderer will defuse our efforts.
Under Non-Zodiac Crimes other crimes may be discussed, too. The thread was placed correctly. Please do not read the Non-Zodiac Crimes section if you are only interested in Z crimes. Besides, parallels can sometimes be found e.g. regarding serial killers (‘trophies’ etc.).
QT
*ZODIACHRONOLOGY*
interesting case . thanks.. it reminds me a bit on the somerton man and one of a lady found burnt in between some rocks.. i will have to find that last one again.
The way the gun is held in the hand is a strange method. This thumb trigger technique is good for a mid forehead shot on oneself, where as holding it conventionally as a right handed person using your trigger finger would result in a right temple shot or right side forehead shot with an exit wound to the left side. no blood on the hand is a strange one but without seeing the rest of the room and its contents hard to tell, maybe she placed a pillow over the hand and gun for a bit of silencing before committing to eternity. In my amateur status of looking at lots of these types of settings (maybe 5?) i can not recall the gun being left in the hand after. May be the thumb method will do that, sort of catches in the trigger holder because of its shape. come to think of it the blood splatter blow back would not be on the back of the hand using the thumb as a trigger finger as it would face away from the blow back but NO blood does not work for me. Planting the gun in the hand using the thumb as the trigger finger was the easy way probably not thinking and in a hurry.
i suggest you do not get your browning out of your holsters to test any of these scenarios.
ya ya interesting.
Regarding the gun and hand, the reporters get conflicting opinions from the crime scene forensic officer and a professor of forensics. The crime scene officer takes the opinion that whilst a lack of blood on the hand is very unlikely, it is possible and the hand position increases that likelihood. The Professor takes the more logical view that, considering the blood spatter reached the wall and ceiling, it is highly unlikely there was none that reached the hand. The other point he makes is that suicides by head shot very often support the gun hand with the free hand – it is the free hand that takes the majority of blood/gunpowder spray as it is shielding the other. Given her grip on the gun, it seems highly likely she would have had to support the gun hand, but no residue was found on either hand.
Both men agree that guns are usually thrown out of the suicide’s hand due to recoil. They also agree that it is exceptionally unusual for women to commit suicide by gun.
Neither person talks about the ‘test’ shot. I believe that shot is very important as it doubles the chance of her hand testing positive for gunpowder residue, especially as it’s more likely she held the weapon normally for that one.
As for prints, they make the point that guns do not have much smooth area on which a decent print can form – but I find it hard to believe there were no prints on the magazine (smooth) or the shells that were loaded into it (also smooth).
Check out my website: www.darkideas.net
Question to the gun aficionados, is the above gun cocked and ready for another shot. is this ready to fire again does it set itself in place automatically like this to re fire. excuse my ignorance but we do not have guns in my country.
Question to the gun aficionados, is the above gun cocked and ready for another shot. is this ready to fire again does it set itself in place automatically like this to re fire. excuse my ignorance but we do not have guns in my country.
Yes, a semi-automatic pistol re-cocks the hammer automatically when fired.
